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You are here: Home / Since then, he’s kinda developed a speech impediment

Since then, he’s kinda developed a speech impediment

by DougJ|  October 14, 20109:05 pm| 54 Comments

This post is in: Fucked-up-edness

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The Kaplan piece on Harry Whittington, the man who Dick Cheney shot, is good. Whittington was really messed up by getting shot, his lung collapsed, a piece of lead in his larynx gives his voice a warble, and all told, he has 30 pieces of buckshot birdshot still in him. If you read this, and think back on all the Republicans who went on tv to chuckle about “peppering”, you may throw up in your mouth a little.

I don’t know a whole lot about the guy but he comes off as pretty decent: a rich Republican, yes, but one who actually seemed to give a fuck about prisoners when he was on the state prison board.

He doesn’t consider Cheney a friend, only an “acquaintance”, and he sounds a little peeved that Cheney never apologized to him.

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54Comments

  1. 1.

    drkrick

    October 14, 2010 at 9:07 pm

    This guy sounds like the kind of old-school Republican you don’t see in power much anymore. It’s hard to blame him for leaving a party like the Texas Dems in the 50s and 60s.

  2. 2.

    Egypt Steve

    October 14, 2010 at 9:08 pm

    So he’s Samoan?

  3. 3.

    Jrod the Cookie Thief

    October 14, 2010 at 9:09 pm

    I don’t want to think about what kind of pressure Cheney put on this guy to make him apologize for getting shot.

    That Cheney couldn’t even cough up a half-hearted apology of his own doesn’t surprise me.

  4. 4.

    Corner Stone

    October 14, 2010 at 9:12 pm

    Yeah, this guy. He apologized for getting his face in the way of Cheney’s shotgun.
    I really couldn’t care less what he has to say now.

  5. 5.

    beltane

    October 14, 2010 at 9:13 pm

    There once was a time when some Republicans, even some conservative Republicans, were not illiterate, psychotic grifters. Dick Cheney was never one of them. He seems like a that rare type of person who is incapable of behaving decently towards anyone outside his immediate family.

  6. 6.

    cleek

    October 14, 2010 at 9:13 pm

    In Soviet Russia, when government shoots you, you apologize to them!

    /Yakov Smirnoff

  7. 7.

    El Cid

    October 14, 2010 at 9:14 pm

    Don’t worry.

    he sounds a little peeved that Cheney never apologized to him

    I’m sure that Cheney would be willing to take him out hunting again.

  8. 8.

    DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.

    October 14, 2010 at 9:14 pm

    @Egypt Steve:

    What’s a brother gonna do?

  9. 9.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 14, 2010 at 9:16 pm

    Can I just say that I hate, hate, hate, hate the free registration gimmick. I have a WaPo account from another computer, but I can’t be assed to dig up the nym/password, so I guess I won’t get to read *more* about how much of a soulless ghoulish fuck Dick Cheney is.

    sigh.

  10. 10.

    Silver

    October 14, 2010 at 9:17 pm

    Next time don’t go hunting with a drunk war criminal.

    Where’s the personal responsibility?

  11. 11.

    stuckinred

    October 14, 2010 at 9:18 pm

    The Reid-Angle debate is on CSPAN. Jesus Christ, Harry Reid sounds worse than Angle, Palin or the Witch.

  12. 12.

    soonergrunt

    October 14, 2010 at 9:18 pm

    @cleek:
    In Soviet Russia, when government Republican USA, when Drunken Misanthrope Vice President shoots you, you apologize to them him!

    There. FIFY.

  13. 13.

    Stuck in the Funhouse

    October 14, 2010 at 9:19 pm

    Last night, when walking the dog for a piss, I saw a truck sized meteorite that landed no more than a mile away, and the ground even shook a little, though that could have been my knees knocking from seeing something I first thought was an airliner crashing. When the neighborhood dogs all started howling at once, I thought the heavens had spoken and something wonderful had just happened.

    And now I learn, Dick Cheney is still wasting the oxygen and bandwidth of the world. That is real disappointment for a libtard.

    Oh My, think I’ll have a cookie.

  14. 14.

    me

    October 14, 2010 at 9:22 pm

    You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize.

  15. 15.

    Jrod the Cookie Thief

    October 14, 2010 at 9:22 pm

    If we’re going with a Pulp Fiction theme, I’m somehow reminded of this.

  16. 16.

    gbear

    October 14, 2010 at 9:22 pm

    If Cheney apoligized to him, he’d have to kill him.

  17. 17.

    sturunner

    October 14, 2010 at 9:23 pm

    Apologize?

    WTF? That would be contrary to NRA religious principles. After all, G-d IS a warm gun.

  18. 18.

    Mental Lint

    October 14, 2010 at 9:23 pm

    Molly Ivins had a great take on Harry Whittington shortly after the shooting.

    Of course the jokes are flying all over Texas — what’s the fine for shooting a lawyer? — and so forth. Dick-Cheney-shooting-Harry-Whittington is fraught, as they say, with irony. It’s not as though the ground in Texas is littered with liberal Republicans. I think the vice president winged the only one we’ve got. Not that I accuse Harry Whittington of being an actual liberal — only by Texas Republican standards, and that sets the bar about the height of a matchbook. Nevertheless, Whittington is seriously civilized, particularly on the issues of crime, punishment and prisons. He served on both the Texas Board of Corrections and on the bonding authority that builds prisons. As he has often said, prisons do not curb crime, they are hothouses for crime: “Prisons are to crime what greenhouses are to plants.”

  19. 19.

    Yellow Dog

    October 14, 2010 at 9:24 pm

    I think that would be birdshot, not buckshot. Big difference.

  20. 20.

    FormerSwingVoter

    October 14, 2010 at 9:25 pm

    Wait, I don’t understand. Why would you apologize to someone for shooting them in the face? I mean, his face was just asking for it.

  21. 21.

    Mnemosyne

    October 14, 2010 at 9:30 pm

    I’m pretty sure that any friend who shot me in the face wouldn’t be considered a friend anymore, apology or not.

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    October 14, 2010 at 9:31 pm

    @FormerSwingVoter:

    Not to mention a tragic waste of precious ammo, in such short supply during these Obamatimes.

  23. 23.

    jrg

    October 14, 2010 at 9:33 pm

    If it were buckshot, he’d probably be dead. Bird shot is much, much smaller – smaller than BBs.

  24. 24.

    geg6

    October 14, 2010 at 9:33 pm

    I will never forget this poor man coming out of the hospital and apologizing to that piece of shit. Never. I felt so humiliated for him. He seems an old school GOPer, a guy I wouldn’t agree with much but to whom I could talk and feel that he was a decent, reasonable person. I don’t know any like that any more. They all seem to have been in my parents’ generation and they’re mostly dead.

    Glad to see he oh-so-politely flips Cheney a bit of a flip of the bird.

  25. 25.

    Stan

    October 14, 2010 at 9:35 pm

    @Yellow Dog:

    I think that would be birdshot, not buckshot. Big difference.

    Yep. I’m sure it’s no picnic being hit in the face with birdshot, but nobody would have survived buckshot. The whole point of birdshot is to have a bird left after you shoot it. With buckshot you’d only have a mess of bloody feathers.

  26. 26.

    jrg

    October 14, 2010 at 9:39 pm

    @Stan: You’re also more likely to hit the bird with a bunch of tiny projectiles rather than a few larger ones.

    At any rate, it’s truly astounding that Cheney never apologized. That man is a total sociopath.

  27. 27.

    John - A Motley Moose

    October 14, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    You had better apologize for being in the way if Dick Cheney shoots you in the face. Unless you want to wake up to find the head of your first born staining your sheets with blood.

  28. 28.

    Parrotlover77

    October 14, 2010 at 9:41 pm

    Just need to chime in as a bird lover and, well, a human with a heart, quail hunting (especially the cannned variety) is absolutely disgusting and cruel. screw them both for having a hobby that involves killing innocent sweet fuzzy gentle woodland creatures while drunk for the “fun” off it. screw cheney even more for doing the same thing with human lives to the entirety of the middle east. i have zero sympathy for either.

  29. 29.

    DonkeyKong

    October 14, 2010 at 9:41 pm

    Is there any question that if Dick Cheney didn’t get into politics he would have spent the 70’s and 80’s cruising the interstate in Wyoming in a windowless van chopping up hitchhikers with joyless ineffeciantcy.

  30. 30.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 14, 2010 at 9:43 pm

    @DonkeyKong: Can you be sure he didn’t do it anyway? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  31. 31.

    And Another Thing...

    October 14, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    @DonkeyKong: word.

  32. 32.

    And Another Thing...

    October 14, 2010 at 9:50 pm

    @stuckinred: I’m soooo glad I don’t have to vote in Nevada. What an awful choice. I’d vote for Reid cause he is the lesser of two evils, but it’d probably make me cry. If he’d announce he won’t run for majority leader, I’d gladly vote for him. He’s such a weak sister.

  33. 33.

    DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.

    October 14, 2010 at 9:54 pm

    @me:

    Win.

  34. 34.

    Mark S.

    October 14, 2010 at 9:55 pm

    I know I’m the twentieth person to say it, but I can’t believe Cheney never apologized to the guy. What a fucking asshole!

  35. 35.

    mai naem

    October 14, 2010 at 9:57 pm

    @DonkeyKong: That would have created less damage than the damage he did create.

    I watched Nicole Wallace this morning on Morning Ho with Barnicle, Willie Geist etc. laughing about Whittington. Oh, it’s just so so funny when the Veep shoots somebody. It’s just so hilarious. I swear I wanted to reach through my teevee screen and bitch slap Nicole Wallace first and then bang Geist’s head with Wallace’s Three Stooges style.

  36. 36.

    gnomedad

    October 14, 2010 at 10:03 pm

    @Parrotlover77:
    Lewis Black: “Going quail-hunting is like saying ‘I’m going fishing’ and going to a goldfish bowl and going ‘Got it!'”

  37. 37.

    WereBear

    October 14, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    @beltane: He seems like a that rare type of person who is incapable of behaving decently towards anyone outside his immediate family.

    And I’m not going to bet money on that.

  38. 38.

    eemom

    October 14, 2010 at 10:26 pm

    I thought it was kind of weird for the WaPo to pull this guy out of nowhere for a big article topic, but I’m glad the true facts came out — not only that old eviler-than-Satan-himself never apologized, but that he was hurt a lot worse than was reported at the time. And that he and Cheney were not, in fact, “old friends.”

    Speaking of which, I confess that in these dark infuriating days of unfathomable stupidity and madness, I occasionally indulge in some quiet enjoyment of the fact that Cheney’s gonna die soon. Yeah, yeah, I know that’s evil of me and that death is too good for him, etc. — but
    (1) I already know I’m evil and (2) even though he may not get the death he deserves, you can be quite sure that he isn’t too happy about the one he IS gonna get.

  39. 39.

    eemom

    October 14, 2010 at 10:29 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    you should use “postsucks” for your password like I do. Easy to remember.

  40. 40.

    daveNYC

    October 14, 2010 at 10:33 pm

    …I occasionally indulge in some quiet enjoyment of the fact that Cheney’s gonna die soon. Yeah, yeah, I know that’s evil of me and that death is too good for him, etc.—but

    I don’t get much enjoyment from that fact, Cheney’s death should take years. That mofo needs to go out Sharon style.

  41. 41.

    WereBear

    October 14, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    If Cheney fits a classic sociopath pattern, he will die believing he never got credit for his extraordinary achievements from an indifferent world.

    Though I’m sure the money was nice.

  42. 42.

    JWL

    October 14, 2010 at 10:55 pm

    “The vice president had been drinking”.

    Better yet, “The vice president had been drinking heavily”.

    That’s all the bit of truth-telling it would have taken, and the great white hunter could well have destroyed an American monster.

    Birds of a feather….

  43. 43.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    October 14, 2010 at 10:56 pm

    It doesn’t surprise me one bit that Darth Cheney hasn’t apologized to the poor guy. He has always come across as a ‘I never make a mistake therefore I never have anything to apologize for’  type of guy. He views himself as a pinnacle of manhood, someone that everyone else should aspire to be like. In his opinion, he is perfect and has nothing to apologize for.

    Ever.

    @daveNYC:

    IMO Cheney is already dead, he’s just being kept from decay by artificial means. With the money he has I bet he is going to be tossing every penny he can towards keeping his corpse from rotting.

  44. 44.

    Steeplejack

    October 14, 2010 at 11:01 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    I think this link goes directly to the Post article without registration. (But someone check it, because I did register at some point in the distant past.) Using DougJ’s link at the top I still hit the registration screen, but this one works for me.

  45. 45.

    Joe Bauers

    October 14, 2010 at 11:24 pm

    Harry probably didn’t expect Dick to react like he did, but he had to expect a reaction.

  46. 46.

    John Bird

    October 14, 2010 at 11:43 pm

    NEVER apologized?

    Now, that is just disturbed. What POSSIBLE downside could there be for anyone, Cheney, the Republicans, the “legacy” of the Bush Administration, if he apologized NOW – before this poor guy sees St. Peter?

  47. 47.

    Bill Arnold

    October 15, 2010 at 12:02 am

    Any bets on whether a media or blogger A-lister will attempt to spin this as a hit on Dick Cheney, to counteract his political resurgence?
    Appalling. I’ve always assumed Cheney is striving to live his life according to some twisted global utilitarian ideal of morality, but a personal apology wouldn’t hurt.

  48. 48.

    RareSanity

    October 15, 2010 at 12:11 am

    @John Bird:

    Apologies are for the weak, you know, liberals…

    I wouldn’t have given two shits what the (perceived) repercussions would have been politically, you shoot me, and don’t (at least) fucking apologize? I’m taking every damn interview request that comes my way, calling you a drunk idiot and then suing you…

    After the case settles, I’m kickin’ your ass also, too…

    In the words of the late, great, Bernie Mack:
    “Wheneva I see his ass, it’s gonna be a misunderstanding. There’s gonna be some furniture movin’ dammit!”

  49. 49.

    mclaren

    October 15, 2010 at 12:13 am

    Why is this guy still walking around? I thought they eat what they kill…

  50. 50.

    Bob

    October 15, 2010 at 12:20 am

    With someone like Dick Cheney, why bother with the nuances of why his political theories or policy positions are wrong-headed. He’s a total schmuck, end of story. Dick Cheney, go fuck yourself.

  51. 51.

    Anne Laurie

    October 15, 2010 at 1:46 am

    @Corner Stone
    __
    :

    He apologized for getting his face in the way of Cheney’s shotgun.
    I really couldn’t care less what he has to say now.

    To be fair, if I’d just spent a week in intensive care, and still had the Secret Service crawling all over my bird-shotted body, I’d be tempted to go with the weak-arse apology strategy.

    Of course, then my sense of self-preservation would have failed, and I’d have started ranting about divine punishment for being in range of Darth Cheney with a gun and not doing God’s work… or so I’d like to believe.

    (Wonder what happened to the reporters who detailed those “rumors” about Cheney using that hunting trip as a cover for spending a drunk weekend with his Swiss Mistress?)

  52. 52.

    Brandon

    October 15, 2010 at 3:05 am

    For the life of me, I don’t understand how people can feel sorry for this guy. True, what Cheney did to him was eff’d up, but did everyone here miss the part where he was responsible for launching Rove’s career and sits on the board of his consulting firm? But somehow this is a “decent” guy? Looks like folks are getting caught up in the whole conservative “daddy” thing. All because what? He served on a prison board and made sense at one point in time? Is this how far our standards have fallen? Seriously.

  53. 53.

    Pinacacci

    October 15, 2010 at 7:41 am

    @mclaren: nice!

  54. 54.

    Comrade Rich

    October 15, 2010 at 9:35 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:
    I use BugMeNot to bypass registration:

    http://www.bugmenot.com/

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